2016 is definitely going to be an extremely interesting year for all tech lovers. Wearables are getting better and more accessible, devices are going to be talking between themselves better, and let’s not forget the bee’s knees of 2016, the VR.
2016 promises to continue the revolution in website building, moving from old platform such as Joomla, Drupal and WordPress to Cloud platforms such as WIX, Squarespace, Simbla and many more.
We took for a test drive one of the new and promising platforms – Simbla with their new version released at the beginning of the year.
Simbla’s new website maker will meet the needs of all different user types, from beginners who need to simply edit one of the templates on offer, to professionals who can enjoy many new and advanced options, such as adding HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Large variety of templates
We started off with a blank page to check the system’s capabilities, and straight away we got a popup guide that took us through the process. The walk-through was short and quick and showed us the new system’s main features. Great for new users and truly a lot to offer on such a platform!
Quick walk-through
We wanted to build a single page website, so we started to drag and drop different elements from the huge stock of blocks that Simbla has built for the system.
The new concept was no less than amazing! The process was so simple and quick – dragging the elements felt like we were playing around with Lego parts. It was so simple that anyone could use the system, even with zero knowledge in website building or programing.
In just a few minutes we had a single page built out of five blocks with a follow-down menu bar.
One of Simbla’s strongest sides is the responsivity. On other website makers, we encountered a serious problem trying to make the website we built look the same on a mobile device’s.
It seems that Simbla have absolutely nailed it! Once you click on the Preview button you will be able to view your site in three different modes: PC, Tablet and mobile phone. Yes, that’s right, you don’t need to edit anything – just click on Preview and watch it all shrink and fit all three different devices!
You can even rotate the screen to see it from all angles. The responsive side of Simbla is all thanks to Twitter’s Bootstrap technology that Simbla chose to embrace and build their whole system around.
Tablet rotated
Mobile view
Change the appearance of your site with just one click
Any website builder’s dream has come true – with Simbla’s new system you can change the overall appearance of the site with just one click. How? Well Simbla have presented us with the Theme Maker, a remarkable tool that allows you to choose a ready-made theme that includes background colors, textures, fonts, icons and more. Or you can just customize your own theme and change the whole “feeling” of your website exactly as you want it.
The Theme Maker is on the left side. Clicking a theme will change all blocks even in the top bar.
Each theme has four block styles that you can play around with and choose which block style you want for each block.
As you can see,it just takes one click and colors,texts, and the whole feeling of the site have all changed, it’s a powerful tool that anyone from the beginner to the professional user can use to maximum.
Let’s go Pro!
If you have some knowledge in site building and know a bit about programming, you’ll be glad to meet Simbla’s website maker.
Simbla allows the Pro mode user to drop down HTML elements, edit the page using CSS and JavaScript and to customize more features than in Edit mode.
In Pro mode you are basically able to create your own page from scratch. Using the grid system, you can position items, edit all items and designs, add images, text and forms – literally anything you want to do you can.
One of the coolest and new features we saw is the Video Background tool, which lets you select a video from a large library. The video plays in the background and you can add any element that you want.
The video library
Trust us, it plays!
Let’s sum up
Simbla has done a spectacular job in the new version.
It seems that Cloud solutions are the next big thing in website building platforms, and as it seems today, they are getting better day by day, making all of our lives easier. If they continue in the same path, Simbla are definitely on the right course to become one of the best, friendliest and surprising website makers out there.
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